St. Charles' comeback kids

As he colored in the "2" with a blue marker on the ball destined for St. Charles North's trophy case, one of this teammates told Angelo Catalano, "You stink at coloring, Angelo."

Fortunately, Catalano didn't have to do anything with his hands to give the North Stars a 2-1 victory over No. 1 seed Larkin on Saturday. At the same time there was a certain art to the far post header following a Bob Lundeen throw-in with just more than four minutes left.

Catalano's goal, the second within four minutes for the North Stars (12-8-2), moved them into Tuesday's Class 3A Wheaton North sectional semifinals.

"We just work on it a lot," Catalano said. "The ball came across, it bounced around a little. It came to Luis (Ramirez) and he let it go between his legs. I was just right there unmarked. I was able to get away from my defender and put it in the back of the net."

Catalano's goal finished a furious St. Charles North comeback. Playing on the swamp that the North Stars field always becomes at this time of the fall, the hosts fell a goal behind after five minutes. Raul Sandoval curled the ball into the net from the right wing.

Larkin (20-2) held that lead for most of the match, and one of the key reasons was inspired play by Royals goalkeeper Raziel Somarriba. The senior played like an octopus in the net. He made kick saves like a hockey goalie, came out to punch when it appeared he was screened, made a foot save while jumping at one point and, in general, dealt with everything the North Stars sent goalward.

And there was much moving toward Somarriba. St. Charles North shook off the shock of falling behind and began to move forward in waves.

As the second half wore on, St. Charles North kept getting closer to scoring. With 17 minutes to play, Kyle Joss headed against the left post while unmarked. That combination - a ball floated the far post - was seen again with deadly effect 10 minutes later.

St. Charles North finally broke through with 7:35 to play. Ramirez floated a free kick from the right wing to the far post and Alex Bergmann headed in.

"There was a little bit of nervousness," Bergmann said. "But we made the best of the chances we had. The strategy was to find guys in the air on the far post. That's where we felt we could score.

After leading for practically the entire match, Larkin was now tied. And three minutes later Catalano struck to put the Royals behind. Though they attempted to rally, the North Stars prevailed.

"St. Charles deserves credit for winning the game," Larkin coach Ken Hall said. "But it's an absolute joke that we had to play on this field. I'm just incensed. I take nothing away from (St. Charles North.) But it's a travesty that this game had to play on this field."